“What if there was no real danger?”
He felt a nagging sensation. An irritation between his shoulder blades as if they were being watched.
“It makes sense,” she began. “From a big picture level.”
“Dangling you in front of a homicidal monster makes no sense on any level,” he argued, keeping his hands on the railing next to her. He was afraid if he touched her he’d never let her go.
“I’m saying, we need him to show his grotesque face sooner rather than later so he can be dragged off in handcuffs. He knows that Camille and I defied him. He’d find us here sooner or later.”
“What’s your point?”
“He knows about the divorce and protective order. He knew about the arrest attempt. Sooner rather than later, he’ll track Camille here to a tiny island with a small police force. What he doesn’t know is there’s a Department of Justice investigation happening. That’s a whole lot of law enforcement who could grace our shores in time to nab him the second he lands here.”
“You’re talking about laying a trap here on Mackinac.”
“Can you think of a way to find him faster?”
He wanted to.
“Don’t do this, Remi. This doesn’t feel right.”
“I don’t like it either. But this needs to be over for Camille. How long can she hang in there if he’s just vanished? How long can she hold it together, knowing that he could be anywhere? Across the country or around the next corner?”
Brick looked over his shoulder, the nagging feeling still there. But there was no one there.
“Remi, this is asking for trouble. Let the agents handle it. It’s their job.”
“You heard Dumb and Dumber in there. They’ve been sitting on this for a year and a half. Do you know how many times he’s hit her in eighteen months? How many times he’s hurt and humiliated her? There’s no way they weren’t aware of it. They left her there in that situation because they wanted to follow the money.”
“Using you and Camille as bait is doing the same thing. Intentionally putting you in harm’s way.”
“It’s not,” she insisted, slipping her arms around his waist and holding on. “Because we have you. Brick, you aren’t going to let him get close enough to her. To me. You’ll keep me safe just like you always have.”
“You don’t know what you’re asking,” he said, feeling broken inside. She couldn’t possibly know what she was asking him to do. She wanted him to hold up the single most important thing in his universe and dare a mad man to try to take it away.
He couldn’t resist her anymore. He had to hold her. Tucking her into his chest, he rested his head on the red hair that had haunted his dreams for his entire adult life.
“I do. And I know it’s not fair. And I swear I’ll make it up to you.”
“How?”
“I’ll spend the whole rest of my life loving you so big that you’ll never have reason to doubt it for a second.”
“Remington.”
“Brick. I love you and I trust you. And I’ve got a whole lifetime planned out for us. I’m not going to do something stupid and jeopardize it. I promise you. I’m just asking you to do what you’ve always done. Protect me.”
51
With the weight of the world on his shoulders, Brick walked in the door after seven to a full house and salsa music. Mega trotted toward him with a welcoming ruff, the cat slinking along on his heels.
He shucked off his coat and bent to pet the welcoming committee. “What’s all this?” Neither the dog nor the cat had answers.
The table was set with his grandmother’s china, and someone had brought her card table out of the basement to handle overflow seating.
The noise of people, of family, came from upstairs and down the hall. The smells of homecoming wafted toward him, and out of the noise, he zeroed in on Remington’s laugh.
And there she was. The flash of red hair. The smile that could thaw the coldest of hearts. She didn’t walk to him, she ran. Jumping into his open arms like it had been days rather than hours since she’d last seen him. This was the fantasy. Coming home to her. Opening his arms to her. Loving her.
She kissed him on the mouth, and when it was over too soon for his liking, he fisted a hand in all of that fiery hair and made her kiss him again until he was hard and she was breathless. His. The fierce possessiveness nearly choked him.
“I missed you,” she said, squeezing his hips with her thighs. “Busy day?”
He stroked a hand down her back to her buttocks, gave them a squeeze. He’d spent all the hours since Camille’s interview with the feds, setting up patrols and coordinating the arrival of a dozen more federal agents. They’d be on the island by morning. In the meantime, Mackinac officers were scheduled to patrol past his place, Remi’s parents’, and Kimber’s house every half hour.
“A bit.” With regret, he let her slide down his body to the floor. “How was yours?” he asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Good, considering. I declared it family dinner night to welcome Camille. Mom will be here soon. Kyle’s coming, too,” she said with a wiggle of eyebrow.
“Do we smell a reconciliation?”
“From what I eavesdropped on Kimber’s very private conversation today, it sounds like Kyle is changing jobs so he can be home every night, and Kimber is starting her own business. Agnes Sopp hired her to rehab her property by the marina.”
“Good for them,” Brick said. “I’m going to miss having the kids here though.”
Remi smiled coyly and ran her hands down his chest to his belt. “I’m so glad to hear you say that because I volunteered us to take them for the whole weekend next week while Kyle and Kimber go away for a sexcation.”
“When can we take one of those?” He skimmed a palm up her side to cup her breast under the jewel-toned cropped sweater she wore. A week away with nothing to do but make Remington Ford come. He’d move any mountain to make that happen.
“I was thinking. It’s been a while since I had a vacation. And it’s been such a long winter.”
“Very long,” he agreed, thumbing her nipple into a point.
“What would you say to a Caribbean vacation? Maybe a quiet villa with a private pool so I can sunbathe topless?”
He let out a pained breath as his dick throbbed behind his zipper.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” she said, cupping his erection in her hand.
There was an outburst of laughter coming from the living room, and he heard the oven timer go off. Too many people in the house for him to carry her upstairs and make her scream out his name. “That’s a definite yes,” he growled. With great reluctance, he removed her hand from his crotch and pressed a kiss to her palm.
“Good. If you hit the shower now, dinner will be ready by the time you get back down.”
A shower sounded good.
“I don’t suppose you can join me?” he asked wolfishly.
She bit her lip, gaze zeroing in on his hard-on. His cock twitched at the attention.